I was stuck in traffic yesterday and got to hear Mike and the MAd Dog (WFAN 660 AM) killing Willie for two main reasons:
1. MIsuse of Heilman, specifically not trusting him in any type of imprtant role. Either make him the 7th inning guy or a starter.
2. And batting Wright 7th when he is one of the more consistent hitters ont he team.

Why not give Aaron a chance? He is a young kid with potential. Iishi is a Japanese Rick "Wild thing" Vaughn wihtout the heat. He is all over the place and isn't going to wake up one morning and figure out how to stay in the strike zone.

I don't want to hijack this thread with my thoughts on Wright so I will save them for another time.

Minor League Skilz wrote:I was stuck in traffic yesterday and got to hear Mike and the MAd Dog (WFAN 660 AM) killing Willie for two main reasons:1. MIsuse of Heilman, specifically not trusting him in any type of imprtant role. Either make him the 7th inning guy or a starter. 2. And batting Wright 7th when he is one of the more consistent hitters ont he team.

Why not give Aaron a chance? He is a young kid with potential. Iishi is a Japanese Rick "Wild thing" Vaughn wihtout the heat. He is all over the place and isn't going to wake up one morning and figure out how to stay in the strike zone.

I don't want to hijack this thread with my thoughts on Wright so I will save them for another time.

Both valid ponts. I have Heilman in my deeper NL only league and he helped when he spot started, and he has helped now but deffinetely not as much as he would be if he was in the rotation. I think Zambrano will lose the spot quicker than Ishi though.

"I'm going to meet the greatest umpire of all, and he knows I'm innocent."

Willie seems to not like Heilmann at all. He doesn't even use him out of the pen regularly, when he's good enough to have a spot in the starting rotation, easily.

Mike and the Mad Dog were pretty critical of Randolph yesterday for reasons mentioned, along with pitching to Ichiro the other day, allowing his 3-run HR with first base open and a 2-0 count. They referred to him time and time again as a poor game day manager, and they sold me pretty good on it. I'm starting to think he's not quite cut out for this skipper deal, and is more fit to be a bench coach...

They're giving Ishii more time in the starting rotation then he deserves simply because they've realized they shouldn't have let Phillips go. That made that trade way too hurriedly, just to get a starting pitcher, and now it's looking like a very bad deal. They don't want to show it, I guess. Heilman deserves that spot in the rotation badly.

I think Zambrano has more talent than Ishii...Peterson has worked with Zambrano recently and he's looked much better in his past couple outings. Ishii is just too inconsistent.

June 12th
"With two scoreless innings last night, Aaron Heilman has thrown 12 1/3 innings as a reliever this season without giving up an earned run.
''You might go, 'Okay, he hasn't given up any runs,' and that's fine,'' manager Willie Randolph said. ''But he's given up some hits, too. He's kept some balls up. So I don't just look at numbers. But I'm pleased with what he's done.'' Source: New York Daily News"

***

June 5th
"Aaron Heilman is being compared to Orel Hershiser by bullpen coach Guy Conti.
Hershiser was a nice guy off the field and the ''Bulldog'' on it. Heilman has the same personality and a 3-3 record to go along with a 3.91 ERA. Conti wants Heilman to stop trying to pinpoint pitches and just go after hitters, and Heilman is with him. ''I was trying to throw darts and pinpoint the position instead of saying, 'Here it is. Hit it,' he said. ''I was worried about too many things, trying to be too perfect.'' Source: New York Daily News"

***

So, Willie is sort of belittling Heilman's performance and the pitching coach is really putting him in great company. I'm not too sure what Randolph's beef with Heilman is. But he's really left himself wide open to criticism, especially with the Mets at the bottom of the division while:
Ishii's ERA hovers around 5.75 and his roster spot is safe and
their #2 RBI man, Wright, and most consistent hitter is batting 7th.